Research Priority Path

Last War: Survival — The optimal Tech Center route from HQ 1 to T10 troops and beyond

The one-line summary

Development + Economy (no badges, run always) → Alliance Duel (badges, unlock reward chests) → Special Forces (badges, unlock T10) → Age of Oil (post-Season 2)

The optimal research sequence

1. DevelopmentPriority 1 — Run always
The foundation of everything. Construction speed, research speed, Fast Builder, Research Enhancement, and Extra Barracks all live here. Every second saved on timers compounds across every future upgrade. This tree never stops being useful — keep it running in one queue permanently.
No badges requiredKey nodes: Construction Speed, Research Speed, Extra Barracks
▼ run in parallel
2. EconomyPriority 1 — Run always
Extra Farmland, Mine, and Refinery unlocks. Passive income that runs 24/7 while you sleep. Pair this with Development in your first Tech Center queue — both are badge-free and both compound over time.
No badges requiredPassive income — compounds daily
▼ when unlocked
3. Garage 1Priority 2
Max Garage 1 before touching Garages 2, 3, or 4. It's the best value-for-cost garage investment. Garage 4 (if you unlock it via purchase) actually has lower costs than Garages 2/3, so it comes next. Then circle back to Garages 2 and 3.
No badges on core nodesMax before Garages 2/3/4
▼ when tree opens
4. Alliance Duel (VS Tech)Priority 3 — Badges required
This is your compounding rewards engine. Two specific nodes — Advanced Rewards and Super Bonus — are mandatory unlocks as soon as the tree opens. They unlock chests 4–6 and 7–9 in Alliance Duel, which contain more Valor Badges. It's a self-reinforcing cycle: more badges → more research → more badges. Time all completions to Wednesday (VS Day 3) for double value — you earn points for spending badges AND for completing research.
Valor Badges requiredComplete on Wednesdays onlyUnlocks up to 2.5× VS points
▼ after Duel tree progressed
5. Special ForcesPriority 4 — Endgame gate
The path to T10 troops (Unit X). You don't need to max the entire tree — just these four final gate nodes: Advanced Protection, HP Boost III, Attack Boost III, Defense Boost III. Everything above them helps but these four are the actual gatekeepers. The final research alone costs 500M+ coins. Also unlocks Damage Reduction ×2 and Morale — game-changing PvP bonuses.
Heavy badge investmentRequires HQ 30 + Tech Center 20Unlocks T10 troops
▼ post-Season 2
6. Age of OilPriority 4 — Season 2+
Unlocks after Season 2 when Tech Center is Level 30 and Special Forces is 40%+ complete. New tech tree allowing HQ expansion past Level 30 (up to 35). Oil becomes the main bottleneck — unlock Oil Wells research ASAP. Required for T11 troops in Season 4+.
Requires Special Forces 40%+Oil is the bottleneck

Trees to deprioritize

Low priority

Units tree

Boosts troop attack, defense, and load. Not a high priority until Alliance Duel is progressed and Special Forces path to T10 is underway. Use it as filler between badge-heavy event cycles. Keep it within 10% of your Hero tech.

Low priority

Heroes tree

Boosts hero stats. Should always be within 10% of your Units tech. Research on Thursdays–Tuesdays (not Wednesday — that's badge day). Priority: Damage > Attack > Health > Defense.

Skip early

Inner City Truck

Requires badges but gives only minor improvements to truck rewards. Most experienced players skip it entirely until T10 is unlocked and badges are less scarce.

Skip early

Defense Fortifications

Unlock the first node only — it adds an extra hospital (+1,800–2,000 troop recovery). The rest of the tree is low priority until endgame.

Second Tech Center: dual queue strategy

If you've unlocked the Second Tech Center, the competitive advantage comes from how you split the queues:

Queue 1 — Badge-free, runs 24/7

Continuous rotation

  • Development tree
  • Economy tree
  • Garage 1 progression
  • Units (filler)
  • Heroes (filler)

These finish quickly, require no badges, and deliver compounding speed bonuses. This queue never sits idle.

Queue 2 — Badge trees, event-timed

Alliance Duel + Special Forces

  • Alliance Duel nodes (complete on Wednesdays)
  • Special Forces T10 gate nodes
  • Inner City Truck (only after T10)

Only spend badges on VS Day 3. Every badge spent outside an event window is a badge that didn't earn you ranking rewards.

Research checkpoints by HQ level

Use these to check if your research is on track compared to other players at your level:

HQ levelUnitsHeroesSpecial Forces
HQ 22+45%35%25%
HQ 24+50%40%30%
HQ 27+70%60%35%
HQ 3080%70%40%

The #1 research mistake

Spending Valor Badges outside of Wednesday (VS Day 3). Every badge spent on a non-event day is a badge that didn't earn you Alliance Duel points. Hoard all week, dump on Wednesday. The Alliance Duel tech branch itself says this — the more you invest, the more points you earn, and the more badges you get back from better reward chests.

Tech power matters more than you think

Having 200k more tech power than your opponent can close a 500k squad power gap. Research isn't glamorous but it's one of the most impactful multipliers in the game — especially the Morale and Damage Reduction nodes in Special Forces.